Artist Statement

Karen Merritt is a Maine-based street artist who focuses on the details, quiet interactions and unexpected beauty of the urban environment. Her photographic work is an exploration of the details – a gesture, a juxtaposition, an unexpected framing – and the ways in which a sensation or experience can be built from what is seen and how it – or we – reflect and are, in turn, reflected. Sometimes the most revelatory component of an image, after all, is in the shadow that passes behind us. As a photographer, Karen shoots with a medium format film camera. As a street artist, she is interested in community and messaging and the ways in which art allows us to see ourselves in each other and each other in ourselves. Karen’s work has appeared on city walls, in galleries, as stock, in print and on-line. When she’s not shooting film and making art, Karen works as an environmental and public health engineer.